No pain, no gain? Contrary to what you might believe, there is such a thing as working out too much. It even has a name: overtraining syndrome.

While a big part of working out involves challenging your body and pushing your limits, reaching the point of overtraining can actually have the opposite effect than you intended. It can make you drained, put you in a world of pain, and can even cancel out all of that hard work by slowing down your progress. 

Here are 7 signs of overtraining you should look out for, and what you can do to heal if you’ve pushed yourself way too hard. 

7 Signs of Overtraining 

1. Your energy is always flagging. 

“Training maladaptation” refers to a point where you’ve pushed your body to the limit and overtrained yourself enough that your workouts are causing more harm than benefit. If you reach this point, your body can go through several negative changes, rather than the positive ones you might come to expect from working out. 

One of the most common self-reported symptoms of training maladaptation is general fatigue. There are several theories as to why this might happen. For example, some researchers believe that overtrained athletes might be experiencing depleted glycogen stores that affect their energy levels, while others believe that overtraining leads to excessive oxidative stress that causes fatigue. Other theories include changes to the autonomic nervous system, hormones, or even inflammation. 

No matter where the fatigue comes from, it can have a disastrous effect on your training, not to mention your health and lifestyle as a whole. This general tiredness can drain you of your motivation to work out, take care of your responsibilities, and even your personal interests and hobbies that you would otherwise enjoy. 

2. You’re not seeing performance improvements (if anything, your performance is getting worse). 

There’s an obvious benefit that comes with working out a lot: when done correctly, you can often see improvements in your lifts, speed, or general performance. This adaptation is called “functional overreaching,” and it can look like an initial short-term decrease in your performance for up to two weeks followed by long-term improvements. 

However, if you aren’t seeing any improvement over the course of more than three to four weeks, this is a good sign that you may actually be experiencing overtraining syndrome. When you’re overtrained, your body can’t make the positive adjustments that you would want to get out of your workouts, leaving your workout progress stagnant (or in the worst cases, reversing it). 

3. You’re always sick.

Exercise is hard on the body, and all of the energy and resources that your body dedicates to repairing itself after those big workouts can take its toll on your immune system. Researchers have found that your immune system’s natural healing and protective functions tend to slow down slightly and temporarily after an intense workout — and when you’re overtraining for longer periods of time, it’s also hypothesized that this effect can make you more prone to common minor illnesses like colds. 

4. Your muscles are constantly sore

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is often thought of as the sign of a good workout, but if you’re feeling stiff and sore for longer periods of time, it might be a sign that you’re not giving your body enough time to recover. 

DOMS is thought to come from microscopic damage on your muscle tissues after you put them through a tough workout. Your immune system triggers a healing process to help those muscles recover, but it can lead to tender, sore, and stiff muscles in the days to follow. 

DOMS typically peaks at around 24-72 hours after your exercise but then goes away on its own. If you’re constantly sore and stiff, it might be a sign that you’re pushing your muscles too hard without giving them adequate time to repair. 

5. You keep getting injured.  

If you’re going too hard and not giving your muscles, tendons, and joints adequate time to recover afterward, all of that excessive use might be making your body more vulnerable to injuries. 

This is especially true if you’re specifically training in a sport. Athletes are particularly susceptible to “overuse injuries” from excessive loading (for example: lifting a weight that’s too heavy), not giving themselves enough time to recover, and being underprepared. For example, adolescent athletes commonly experience issues with tendons, stress fractures, and issues with bone health. 

6. You’re feeling depressed, anxious, and/or irritable. 

Exercise is supposed to be good for your mood and your overall well-being. Unfortunately, if you’re overdoing it, it can have a serious negative impact and leave you with unpredictable mood swings, depression, and generally poor mental health. 

The effects of overtraining on your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have been linked to mood changes including depression, irritability, agitation, and anxiety. Not only can this make maintaining your regular training schedule difficult, but it can also bleed into your day-to-day life and affect your other responsibilities and relationships at worst. 

7. You’re completely burnt out from training or athletics. 

Finally, if you find that you suddenly have zero interest in working out, it might be a sign that you need a recovery break. It’s estimated that about 20-60% of elite athletes experience overtraining, and up to 10% of elite athletes report experiencing burnout.  

Your workouts might not always be fun, but you shouldn’t feel so exhausted and tired that you lose your motivation completely. If this is the case for you, it’s a good sign that you should take a little break to give your body and your mind adequate time and space to recover. 

How to heal from overtraining 

Schedule rest days in your training regimen. 

Adequate rest is crucial for letting your stressed and damaged muscles recover. Unfortunately, rest days are sometimes overlooked by people who are trying to get the most out of their workouts. 

Take at least one day off a week, especially in the days following your most intense workouts. If the thought of taking a break scares you, remember that you don’t necessarily need to stay completely still during a recovery day. Instead, try doing more gentle activities like long walks, stretching, or yoga to keep moving while still allowing your muscles and mind a much-needed break from the usual high-intensity grind. 

Prioritize nutrition for muscle recovery.

Working out is just one half of the puzzle — your diet is the other. 

Nutrition is the other key to good training: not just for fuel, but for recovery as well. Make sure to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet to give your body the tools it needs to properly repair itself from all of that work you’ve done in the gym. As you’re planning your diet, focus on:

• Protein, which is necessary for muscle recovery and growth, 

• Healthy carbohydrates like whole grains, vegetables, and legumes to to replenish your glycogen stores and keep your energy levels up 

• Plant-based foods for antioxidants to protect your body from damage 

Get a good night’s sleep. 

Finally, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting your beauty sleep to get the most out of your workouts! 

Good, high-quality sleep is essential — not just for your mind and mood, but for your physical body as well. Not only is sleep necessary for your body’s recovery processes, but it’s also thought that it can reduce injuries and even improve your performance. Try following a regular bedtime routine, keeping your screen time to a minimum and engaging in relaxing activities like meditation or reading if you have trouble drifting off. 

Conclusion 

Working out is one of our biggest tools for improving our body composition and our health as a whole, and you never want to be too comfortable if you want to make progress. However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing here. To prevent overtraining, it’s important to factor in adequate time to rest, know your physical limits, and recognize signs of fatigue when they start. Remember, fitness is a lifelong journey, and pushing yourself too far is only going to backfire in the long run.

Sometimes, it seems like you’re doing everything right when it comes to diet and exercise, yet you still aren’t making progress on your body composition goals. 

If you’ve ever had trouble seeing the results of your hard work at the gym, what you may be observing is the outcome of your body’s internal struggle with your hormone levels. 

Hormones can be thought of as your body’s “messengers.” These chemicals are made by your endocrine glands and travel throughout your body via your bloodstream, regulating important processes, including your growth and metabolism. 

Because they’re such an integral part of your body’s functioning, having too much or too little of any hormone can have a very real impact on how well your body’s systems work. 

In this article, we’ll go over some of the most common hormones that affect body composition. 

We’ll also talk about some ways to bring any imbalanced hormone levels back to normal so that your body will begin responding more positively to interventions designed to improve your body composition. 

Of course, you should consult your medical provider before implementing any of these suggestions!

5 Hormones That Are Important for Your Body Composition

1. Insulin 

Insulin is a crucial hormone for your metabolism. It helps your body to properly digest and store glucose, a kind of sugar. 

However, because insulin is such a crucial player in your metabolism, this also means that having irregular insulin levels can negatively impact your body composition, not to mention your health as a whole.

Why? Well, one of the key roles of insulin is to bring the sugar that’s circulating in your bloodstream into your cells, where it can be used as an energy source. 

If you are consistently eating a diet that is high in fat and sugar, your body needs to release more and more insulin to bring sugar from your bloodstream into your cells for energy. 

Over time, these high insulin levels can make your cells less responsive to insulin, a state that is referred to as insulin resistance. 

In cases like these, since your cells are less efficient at bringing sugar inside them to use for energy, the sugar remains in your bloodstream and is thus more likely to be stored for later use as fat tissue.

Insulin resistance is linked to a variety of conditions. It can often occur alongside obesity, and it’s also associated with long-term health concerns like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

As a result, your insulin levels can help or hinder your fitness goals. For example, a weight loss intervention study on healthy women with different levels of insulin resistance put all the women on a similar calorie restriction but instructed some of them to follow an at-home exercise program. 

The researchers found that although the insulin-resistant women lost more weight over time, exercise promoted weight loss only in women who did not show any insulin resistance.

How to balance insulin levels

Dietary changes like increasing your consumption of fiber (found in whole grains, non-starchy vegetables, and raw fruit) and minimizing your consumption of simple sugars may help improve insulin resistance. But it’s best to talk to a doctor if you believe that your insulin levels are imbalanced, or if you’re experiencing insulin resistance, since it can be linked to serious issues like diabetes. In these cases, you might even need to take exogenous insulin as a medication to reach optimal levels. 

2. Cortisol 

If there’s one hormone that has gotten a reputation as a potential saboteur of fitness goals in the past few years, it’s cortisol, “the stress hormone.”

Cortisol is directly responsible for your “fight or flight” instinct—the feeling that kicks in when you’re faced with a potentially dangerous situation. 

One of cortisol’s main modes of operation is to act on your liver, breaking down your stored glycogen into glucose (aka blood sugar), so that your cells can access a quick and efficient source of energy in the event that you need to spring into action.  

In the short term, this makes cortisol highly beneficial (for instance, if you need to generate quick energy to run away from a life-threatening danger). 

Unfortunately, many people are under chronic, ongoing levels of high stress that can contribute to consistent metabolic changes, which can have a negative impact on your health and your fitness goals over the long term. 

For example, in a population-based study of Japanese individuals, researchers found that higher levels of cortisol were associated with decreased insulin secretion. 

As we’ve already discussed, insulin is important for managing your metabolism, and low levels can lead to metabolic inefficiency (a potential factor in weight gain).  

In addition, all of that stress can also take a toll on your behavior and habits. 

For some people, stress may trigger overconsumption, or, “stress eating,” which can get in the way of hitting your body composition targets if you’re trying to reduce body fat.  

How to balance cortisol levels

Stress can sometimes feel inevitable depending on your lifestyle. However, finding healthier ways to manage that stress may help. Various studies have found that meditation may decrease cortisol levels in at-risk populations. Additionally, exercise might also help improve cortisol levels in some populations, especially people dealing with long-term conditions. Finally, if you find that you tend to put your sleep on the back burner, you may find that prioritizing high-quality sleep can help, since cortisol is released based on your natural circadian rhythms. 

3. Testosterone

Testosterone is another important player in your fitness level, because it can directly influence your body’s ability to build muscle. Testosterone is perhaps best known as a male reproductive hormone. However, testosterone is an important driver of muscle growth and maintenance for everyone and can influence lean mass in women as well as in men. In addition, testosterone is also thought to play a role in body fat. For instance, in men, testosterone deficiency is associated with increased fat mass. Testosterone is especially associated with increased belly fat. 

How to balance testosterone levels 

Testosterone levels largely depend on your genetics and your age, and it’s fairly normal for testosterone levels to decrease as you get older. But you can also increase your testosterone levels with lifestyle changes. For example, studies have shown that testosterone levels increase immediately after moderate-intensity and high-intensity training, although this result is temporary. There’s also some evidence that certain herbs can increase testosterone in healthy young men, but talk to your doctor first to determine whether this is the right course of action for you. Avoid over-the-counter steroids, which are marketed as supplements that increase your testosterone but can have dangerous symptoms and side effects like heart and liver damage. Finally, some circumstances may warrant testosterone replacement therapy. If you think testosterone replacement therapy might be appropriate for your needs, reach out to a medical professional. 

4. Ghrelin  

If you find that your appetite is often high, and you’re eating more than your body really needs for energy, it may be in part due to the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone that’s responsible for triggering hunger. Along with leptin, another hormone that plays a role in inhibiting your appetite, ghrelin can influence your eating habits. Having high levels of ghrelin in your system naturally increases your appetite and cravings, which may drive calorie overconsumption. Because your body’s ability to maintain its weight depends largely on the amount of energy that you consume versus the energy that you spend during the day, eating more calories than necessary can ultimately lead to fat storage and/or having a harder time losing weight.   In addition to the behavioral aspect, ghrelin may also play roles in influencing how your body stores fat. Plus, ghrelin can influence how your body releases growth hormone, a hormone that regulates various aspects of body composition—including muscle growth. So, you can see what a strong impact ghrelin can have on body composition!

How to balance ghrelin 

To manage your appetite, start by filling your plate with nutrient-dense and filling foods that trigger fullness. Foods that have plenty of dietary fiber and/or lean protein are good choices, since they can fill you up while delivering the nutrients your body needs for growth and fat loss. It’s also a good idea to prioritize your sleep if you find that your appetite is larger than your caloric needs. Studies show that ghrelin levels can increase with sleep deprivation. 

5. Thyroid Hormones

Finally, if you find that your body is holding onto fat even if you’re doing everything else right, it’s worth looking at your thyroid levels. Your thyroid is an organ that produces several hormones that are important for regulating the speed of your metabolism (in other words, how quickly your body uses energy). As a result, if there is something wrong with your thyroid, and it can’t produce enough hormones, it can cause your metabolism to slow down, ultimately leading to unexplained weight gain. On the other hand, you can also have thyroid levels that are too high, which will speed up your metabolism to abnormal levels. This may contribute to unexplained weight loss. 

How to balance thyroid hormones

If your thyroid is underproducing or overproducing hormones, your best bet is to talk to your doctor. While there is evidence that eating a healthy diet with micronutrients like iodine, selenium, iron, zinc, and Vitamins B12, D, and A may help reduce symptoms of thyroid issues or prevent thyroid risks in the future, an over- or under-active thyroid is a medical issue. Treating it may require medication to supplement low hormone levels or inhibit overactive thyroid activity. 

Conclusion

Your diet and exercise routines are absolutely the most crucial pieces of the puzzle when it comes to improving your body composition.However, if your hormone levels are not where they should be, it can make your progress much slower. By investigating and addressing any hormone imbalances, you can help your metabolism become a more efficient system that helps you reach your goals. 

Muscle mass and fat seem to get all the attention when most people discuss their fitness goals, but if you want to stay active long-term, you can benefit from giving an equal amount of attention to your joints. Your joints allow you to move and bend at will. Unfortunately, their flexible nature can also lead to strain, pain, and inflammation if you don’t take good care of them. In this article, we’ll talk about some ways to naturally improve your joint health and keep them strong and mobile! 

Why Your Joint Health Is So Important  

Joints are the places in your body where two bones meet. While there are a few different kinds of joints, the purpose of many of them is to allow you to move and flex your muscles and limbs.  Unfortunately, joints can become very painful if they aren’t healthy. At your joints, your bones are covered by a tissue called cartilage that cushions those bones and prevents friction during movement. Over time or due to certain health conditions, cartilage can wear down or become inflamed, leading to joint pain. Your bones are protected by a fluid called synovial fluid, which provides lubrication at the joints. If there is less fluid to protect your bones, this can also lead to pain and irritation. 

Risk factors for joint problems

You may be more at risk for joint problems if you are: 

1. Post-menopausal: During menopause, you experience a decrease in estrogen, a hormone that is best known for its role in your reproductive cycle. However, an estrogen deficiency can also affect your bone health, making you more at risk for bone and joint problems like osteoporosis.

2. Older: Besides menopause, people who are older are generally more at risk for joint and bone problems, due to general decreases in physical activity and muscle mass, reduced flexibility, and overall wear-and-tear over the years.

3. A person with autoimmune issues: Some joint problems, like rheumatoid arthritis, are autoimmune problems. In these cases, your immune system attacks its own cells, leading to inflammation and pain.

4. Overweight or obese: Carrying excess weight can be bad for your joint health since it puts more pressure on your joints and bones.

5. A person with previous joint injuries: Finally, you may be more at risk for joint problems like osteoarthritis if you have had a previous joint injury. 

How to Improve Your Joint Health Naturally 

Dealing with joint pain can be painful and, in some cases, even debilitating. However, you can combat your risk of joint issues by making certain lifestyle changes.

Improve your body composition

If you are overweight or obese, improving your body composition is one of the best things that you can do to support your joint health. 

Carrying excess weight can put extra pressure on your joints, leading to more pain from wear-and-tear. 

Case in point: one study found that fat mass was positively and significantly associated with knee osteoarthritis in post-menopausal women.  

However, there’s more to this recommendation than just losing weight in general. For the best results, you should also focus on building muscle! 

The more lean muscle mass you have on your body, the more support your bones and joints have. 

Additionally, research indicates that fat mass may be associated with inflammation and metabolic syndrome, which is linked to knee osteoarthritis. 

So, when planning how to change your body composition to improve your joint health, you should have a two-pronged goal: to lose body fat and build muscle. 

To lose body fat, you’ll need to be in a calorie deficit (in other words, burning more calories than you eat per day). 

Start by increasing your physical activity in general, then focus on reducing portion sizes to stay in a calorie deficit. To build muscle, make sure to incorporate resistance training exercises like weight lifting into your workout routine.

If you’re new to weight training, make sure to work with a knowledgeable friend or personal trainer to make sure you’re doing workouts with the right form, which will minimize your risk of injury. 

Stretch and do mobility training

If there’s just one kind of gentle, low-impact exercise you should be doing to improve your joints, it’s stretching! 

Studies have suggested that stretching alone can significantly reduce pain in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. 

If you’re dealing with achy, painful joints, carve out at least ten minutes every day to stretch, especially if you’re doing other exercises like weight training or walking. 

In addition to stretching, you might also consider adding mobility training to your workout routine.

Mobility training is a low-impact exercise that works directly on your joints to improve their range of motion. 

Start by working through some gentle yoga poses or finding a personal trainer who specializes in mobility so they can help walk you through these dynamic movements. 

Focus on hydration

Drinking enough water is crucial for just about everyone, but it’s especially important if you’re suffering from joint pain. 

Cartilage, that tissue that cushions your bones where they meet at your joints, is made primarily of water. Some studies have suggested that dehydration may lead to flare-ups of joint problems like gout.

The Institute of Medicine recommends that women and men consume roughly 2.7 liters (91 ounces) and 3.7 liters (125 oz), respectively, of fluid a day. That sounds like a lot of water, but these fluid recommendations include intake from food and beverages. In fact, food is estimated to contribute to 20% of our fluid intake alone!

As a general guideline, aim to drink at least 8 cups of water every day to keep your joints cushioned and lubricated. 

If you tend to have a hard time staying properly hydrated, try carrying around a water bottle to remind yourself to take a swig regularly or setting reminder alarms on your phone at regular intervals. 

Add omega-3s to your diet

Omega-3s are healthy fatty acids with anti-inflammatory properties. As a result, they are a great tool to include in your dietary arsenal if you are dealing with inflammatory joint conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. 

Studies have indicated that omega-3 fatty acids may help improve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis by reducing the amount of swollen and/or tender joints. 

Omega-3s can be found in fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring. You can also increase your intake of plant-based omega-3s by eating foods like chia seeds, walnuts, and flaxseeds. 

Additionally, you might consider taking an omega-3 supplement like fish oil, but make sure to talk to your doctor first to determine the correct dosage for your needs. 

Move every day

Joints can become achy and stiff without regular physical activity, which is why prioritizing movement is one of the best ways to combat joint pain. People with osteoarthritis have seen improvements in pain, physical function, and overall quality of life with regular exercise. Make it a point to schedule more movement into your routine every day, whether that means hitting the gym or biking through your favorite parks.If you’re concerned about experiencing pain during your exercise, consider doing low-impact workouts like swimming and walking instead. These types of exercise can keep you mobile and active without directly aggravating your joints in the way that higher-impact movements could. 

Eat anti-inflammatory foods

Omega-3s aren’t the only foods you can eat to fight inflammation and joint pain! A wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods contain natural anti-inflammatory agents, which are thought to fight inflammation in the body.  Aim to eat more berries, leafy greens, olive oil, ginger, and green tea to maximize your intake of anti-inflammatory agents. You can also add other anti-inflammatory foods into your diet to help with joint issues, such as turmeric.Some studies have even compared turmeric to anti-inflammatory medications NSAIDs for knee pain!

Improve your posture

Finally, your joints may also benefit from working on your posture. Poor posture can throw off the alignment of your bones and joints, leading to extra strain and pain.  

Good posture starts with your core muscles, which are the muscles in your abdomen and hips that support your spine. 

Try adding core workouts to your exercise routine to help better support your bones and joints. 

Some exercises that may help improve posture and alleviate pain include stretching, hip exercises, and strengthening exercises that target the abdominal muscles. 

Additionally, you might consider improving your workspace if your poor posture stems from spending hours at your desk for work. 

You can improve your office set-up by experimenting with ergonomic chairs, various desk heights, or even a standing desk, which can help reduce the slouching and strain that come from improper and extended sitting.  

Conclusion 

Your joints are such an important part of your anatomy, and you can really feel their impact if they are not at their best health. By incorporating a variety of lifestyle changes into your routine, you can extend the life of these essential structural components of your body, so you can stay happy, healthy, and moving freely!